Related Articles

If you're planning a flight to the Washington, D.C., area in the future, you may soon need a new endorsement in your logbook. The FAA is considering making it mandatory for all pilots who fly into the national capital region to complete a training course on the rules of the air in that complex restricted airspace. Pilots who take the course will get a certificate of completion that they'll have to take with them if they want to fly in that space. There's no word on when the course might be available but AOPA hopes it's soon. It's also hoped that the training requirement might calm calls for draconian penalties suggested by some in Congress to deter wayward pilots. In fairness, the politicians have a point, according to AOPA President Phil Boyer. "It's not surprising that lawmakers are frustrated with airspace incursions that disrupt Congress and send staffers running for cover," he said, referring to a couple of instances earlier this year in which evacuations were ordered. According to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, there have been almost 3,400 incursions since 2001 and 90 percent were blunders by GA pilots. The other 10 percent were procedural errors by commercial carriers but the GAO also couldn't rule out the possibility that some of the incursions were intentionally aimed at testing the emergency response system.